Our participants are very much in control of the content of this event, so each year we invite you to share your ideas for Notwestminster workshop sessions.
In 2017 all the workshops were based around themes inspired by discussions with our local citizens as part of the Kirklees Democracy Commission. The Commission is a unique and important piece of work for local democracy in the UK, which is taking a health check on our local democracy and coming up with ideas for making it stronger.
Our 2017 workshops
Notwestminster 2017 workshop grid & live notes
Session one – 10.30am to 11.30am:
- The Great British By-Election
Joe Mitchell, Democracy Club
- Local conversations in local spaces
Louisa Thomson and Hannah Worth, Renaisi - Mapping local issues
Perry Walker and Bob Bollen, Talk Shop - Upskilling and equipping local councillors to connect with citizens where they are
Helen Cammack, interests.me
Session two – 12 noon to 1pm:
- How can local government encourage people to engage?
Michelle Brook, The Democratic Society - Design thinking for Open reporting
Rajesh Bhardwaj, independent Digital Strategist - Greater Manchester People’s Plan and owning democracy
Jenny Cronin and Rashid Mhar, Unlock Democracy - Introducing the Civic Story Factory
John Popham, Digital Storyteller
Session three – 2.30pm to 3.30pm:
- Designing user-centred approaches for public engagement
Elli Panagopoulos, Eclipse Experience - Majority Rule is Archaic
Peter Emerson, The de Borda Institute - Exploring Open Source Democracy
James Smith, Open Data Institute - The Feeling of a Place
David Moynihan and Emma Nielsen, Social Life - Councillors as conveners and facilitators of innovation
Andrew Wilson, Hannah Directory & The Making Space
Turning ideas into action
As usual, we set all our workshop hosts a challenge. The participants in each workshop were encouraged to come up with a new idea for a practical experiment that we can all try out where we live or work. We were looking for things that test out new ways of involving people in local democracy and decision-making.
At the end of the day we brought everyone together for our Ideas Bazaar, where we shared our ideas, had a few drinks and began to talk about what we might do next.
Sign up to the Notwestminster email network or follow us @LDBytes to find out more.
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